Device for separating and packing elastic products

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a device for separating and packing gloves in a particular order from a collection area wherein the gloves are provided unordered and unsorted, a device for separating and packing gloves not in a particular order from a collection area wherein the gloves are provided unordered and unsorted and also to a device for separating and packing gloves in a predetermined order directly from dipping line.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/530,155,filed on Sep. 4, 2009, which is a U.S. Nationalization of PCTInternational Application No. PCT/MY2008/000090 filed on Aug. 27, 2008,the contents of each of the foregoing applications are incorporatedherein, in their entirety, by this reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for separating and packingelastic products. More particularly, the present invention relates to adevice for separating and packing products made of rubber or rubber-likematerial.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Products made of rubber or rubber-like materials have been known forsome time; these include any types of products which are produced eitherfrom naturally or synthetically produced rubber. The elastic behavior ofproducts of this type also plays a certain role in regard to the set ofproblems to be solved.

In particular with products which are provided for use in the fields ofhygiene or medicine, such as examination gloves, and which are used inlarge piece counts, difficulties result during packing in regard topacking in the package provided for this purpose and the exact piececount.

In addition, requirements may also exist for the uniformity of theorientation of such products, which have made manual engagementnecessary until now.

On the basis of this prior art, it is the object of the presentinvention to provide a device of the type cited at the beginning which,with the least possible expenditure of manual engagements, offers thepossibility of first separating the products provided in large piececounts and automating the counting, the orientation, and the packing asmuch as possible.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Accordingly, there is provided a device for separating and packingelastic products such as products made of rubber or rubber-like materialin a particular order, wherein the products to be separated and packedare provided unordered and unsorted in a collection area and at leastone driver reaches in the collection area, characterized in that thedevice is further provided with a product release mechanism, a layeringunit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein the layering unitlayers the product in the particular order, compressing unit compressesthe products until the products reach a predetermined height and uponreceiving the predetermined height, the products are then sent to thepacking unit for packing.

Also provided is a device for separating and packing elastic productssuch as products made of rubber or rubber-like material not in anyparticular order, characterized in that the device is provided with aproduct supply unit, a weighing device or a counting device, asingulation unit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein thecompressing unit compresses the products until the products reach apredetermined condition and upon receiving the predetermined condition,the products are then sent to the packing unit for packing.

Furthermore, there is also provided a device for separating and packingelastic products such as products made of rubber or rubber-likematerial, wherein the products to be separated and packed are providedfrom a supply line characterized in that the device is provided with aproduct release mechanism, a product layering unit, a compressing unitand a packing unit, wherein the compressing unit compresses the productsuntil the products reach a predetermined height and upon receiving thepredetermined height, the products are then sent to the packing unit forpacking.

The present invention consists of several novel features and acombination of parts hereinafter fully described and illustrated in theaccompanying description and drawings, it being understood that variouschanges in the details may be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention or sacrificing any of the advantages of the presentinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be fully understood from the detaileddescription given herein below and the accompanying drawings which aregiven by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of thepresent invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a device for separating and packing productsmade of rubber or rubber-like material in a particular order which isconnected to a conveyor according to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the device according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a device for separating and packing productsmade of rubber or rubber-like material not in a particular orderaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the device according to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a device for separating products made of rubberor rubber-like material connected to a dipping machine according to thethird embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of the device according to FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top view of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to a device for separating products madeof rubber or rubber-like material. Hereinafter, this specification willdescribe the present invention according to the preferred embodiments ofthe present invention. However, it is to be understood that limiting thedescription to the preferred embodiments of the invention is merely tofacilitate discussion of the present invention and it is envisioned thatthose skilled in the art may devise various modifications andequivalents without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

The following detailed description of the preferred embodiments will nowbe described in accordance with the attached drawings, eitherindividually or in combination.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 7, the device (10, 22, 30) is assembledfrom various components and has the object of preparing arbitraryproducts made of rubber or rubber-like material for separating and thenpacking them in a predetermined way.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the device (10) according to the first embodiment ofthe present invention which has a collection area (12). This is wherethe finished products are placed unordered. This collection area (12) isconnected to a product supply unit (48) which has a sufficient width andlength to ensure that there is always sufficient amount of products tobe supplied into the collection area (12) to keep the packing processrunning.

Of course, only products of a specific type and size are placed in thecollection area (12) for packing in each case. The products accumulatedfor packing are first placed unordered in the collection area (12).

A circular driver disk is provided as a base for the at least one driver(14), on which at least one driver arm is situated at equal angularintervals to one another. The driver disk is implemented as a circulardisk and is provided with drivers (14) situated uniformly distributed.In consideration of the products, which are sensitive to mechanicaleffects, the drivers operate pneumatically, i.e., tubes are provided onthe driver arms, which are connected via flexible tubing to a partialvacuum unit, via which a partial vacuum is applied to each of the opentube ends, which is sufficient to pick up a product from the unorderedset. In this way, a high frequency of picking up products and thus ahigh throughput are achieved.

The driver disk is situated so it is rotatable and successively acquiresa product from the collection area (12) formed on the conveyor beltusing the particular driver arms and supplies it to a measuring unit, inwhich the products are tested for maintenance of the specified length orsize requirements using a predetermined standard. The testing criteriaand acceptance range for the product length or size is howeveradjustable.

If the test is successful, the driver may convey the product further andpulls the product over a shoot (13) to the product release mechanism(15), while the product remains in the collection area (12) if the testresult is unsatisfactory.

Specifically, is possible that the driver does not acquire the affectedproduct at its end, but rather at any arbitrary point, for example, inthe middle. Thus, when a product is acquired at an arbitrary point andpassed through the measuring unit, it will be considered too short. Inthis case the product will be released back to the collection area (12).The products with unsatisfactory results do not leave the collectingarea (12) and may be replaced by a product with satisfactory resultspicked from the collection area (12).

For the device (10) which is connected to the collection area (12), theat least one driver (14) moves on a circular path. It is appreciated byone skilled in the art that other movements than circular path forexample oval path is also possible. The at least one driver (14) thusonly places products having correct length or dimensions aspredetermined in the testing criteria on the shoot (13), and releasesproducts viewed as not within the predetermined parameters back into thecollection area (12).

The products placed by the driver arms on the shoot (13) are oriented atthis stage in accordance with their longitudinal extension, i.e., forexample, for examination gloves, the fingers point in one direction andthe engagement opening points in the opposite direction.

The product is pulled over the shoot (13) by the at least one driver(14) and arrives at the product release mechanism (15), which holds theproduct and pulls the product off from the at least one driver (14).This product release mechanism (15) comprises a combination of tworollers rotating in counter rotation. It is appreciated by one skilledin the art that other release mechanisms are also implementable. The tworollers are preferably made of a soft material, so that they do notdamage the products. As soon as a product, such as a glove, reaches theroller on the conveyor belt, there is provided a pusher mechanism thatpushes the products, such as a glove to be pulled by the two rollers andpasses through the gap between the rollers. The pusher mechanism willonly push the product to the rollers at a predetermine locationindicated by means of a sensor, for example at the end or tip of theproduct. The product layering unit (40) is ready to receive the productsconveyed by the rollers.

The now empty driver (14) mounted on the circular disc returns to backthe collection area (12) and again picks up a product such as a glovefrom the collecting area (12). The pulled off product however is nowgently pulled down and reaches the product layering unit (40). Theproduct layering unit (40) has the ability to separate and lay oneproduct on top of the other and therefore accumulates a predeterminednumber of products. The product layering unit (40) orients the placedproducts in accordance with their longitudinal extension, so that, forexample, for gloves, the fingers point to one side and the engagementopening points to the diametrically opposite side.

The product layering units (40) lowers in synchronization with theincoming products and maintains therefore the same height for the nextincoming product. Because the product layering unit (40) moves alongstep-by-step with the incoming products, it causes the orientation ofthe affected products.

In order to ensure that the products are placed in opposite or randomdirections, the conveyor platform is implemented as horizontal movableand performs an appropriate movement corresponding to products comingthrough the 2 preferable soft rollers at the product release mechanism(15). Completely automatic separation and orientation of the products isthus essentially ensured.

In a further improvement of the device (10) according to the presentinvention, a counting device (42) is provided, which counts the numberof products supplied to the product layering unit (40). The purpose ofthis counting device is to ensure that the entire piece count ofproducts is always provided for packing.

In regard to the main area of application of the device (10), namely thehandling of products made of rubber or rubber-like material, theproducts provided for packing are compressed before packing. This isperformed by the compressing unit (16). In other words, the products arecompressed to form stacks, in order to thus reduce their spacerequirement, which is otherwise too large to be inserted into the box(20).

As soon as the number of products reaches the predetermined number, theproduct layering unit (40) pushes the product out into the compressingunit (16). The product layering unit (40) is connected via conveyor tothe compressing unit (16). The conveyer delivers the products to thecompressing unit (16) after a predetermined number of products have beenaccumulated.

After that the lifting device will lift itself up in order to receivethe next stack of products. In the compressing unit (16) the productsare compressed to a predetermined height, without any damage to theproducts so as to ensure that the height of the products in appropriateto the products to be forced into a packing unit (18) where an empty boxis located from a stack of empty boxes (41) to receive the compressedproduct.

Once the products have been pushed into the box (20), the box (20) willdrop into the filled box area and stacked so that more filled boxes canbe received. Once a box is removed from the packing unit (18), a furtherempty box is supplied from a stack of empty boxes (41) to ensurecontinuous packing of the products.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the packing unit(18) reaches the box (20), opens the box automatically, acquires thecounted and compressed products and pulls or pushes them into the box(20) and subsequently automatically closes the box (20) upon completionof the packing of the products.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a further embodiment of the device (22) forseparating and packing products made of rubber or rubber-like materialnot in a particular order according to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention whereas FIG. 4 is a front view of the device (22)according to FIG. 3.

In this second preferred embodiment of the present invention, theproducts need not to be arranged in a particular order. In operation,the products are supplied from a supply conveyor to the device (22)which is equipped with a weight measuring device or a counting device(42). Therefore, in this embodiment, the device (22) does not requirethe collection area (12), drivers (14) and a measurement unit as in thefirst embodiment.

The vacuum provides sorting of the product and the product goes throughthe compressing and packing units (24, 26) in the way similar to theones described above. As the compression and packing operations aresimilar to the first embodiment of the invention, the description of thesame will not be repeated.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a device (30) for separating products made ofrubber or rubber-like material connected to a dipping line (32)according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 6is a front view of the device (30) according to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7 is atop view of FIG. 5.

In this third embodiment of the present invention, the products aresupplied directly from the dipping line (32). Therefore, in thisembodiment, the device (30) does not require the collection area (12),drivers (14) and a measurement unit as in the first embodiment. Anexample of this embodiment is shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, in the gloveproduction line, the dripping line (32) is provided with glove formerswith half-stripped gloves.

From the dipping line (32), the product goes through the product releasemechanism (46), product layering unit (45), compressing and packingunits (34, 36) in the way similar to the ones described above. As thecompression and packing operations are similar to the first embodimentof the invention, the description of the same will not be repeated.

1. A device for separating and packing elastic products not in anyparticular order, the device comprising: a product supply unit; aweighing device or a counting device; a singulation unit; a compressingunit; a packing unit; and wherein the compressing unit compresses theproducts until the products reach a predetermined condition and uponreceiving the predetermined condition, the products are then sent to thepacking unit for packing.
 2. The device according to claim 1, whereinthe products comprise gloves.
 3. The device according to claim 1,wherein the product supply unit includes a conveyor belt or a shoot,wherein the product supply unit is configured to supply productsunordered to the weighing device or the counting device, wherein theweighing or counting device is configured to interact with the productsupply unit and stop the supply if the predefined number or weight ofproduct has reached.
 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein thesingulation unit is configured to take oversupplied products from theweighing device or the counting device in order to achieve thepredefined weight or number of products on the weighing device or thecounting device, whereby the singulation unit still holds theoversupplied products and releases the same to the weighing or countingdevice in the next machine cycle.
 5. The device according to claim 1,wherein the weighing device or the counting device is configured totransport the predefined weight or number of products into thecompressing unit.
 6. The device according to claim 1, wherein theweighing device or the counting device is configured to detect thenumber of products or respectively the weight of products placed in theweighing device or the counting device.
 7. The device according to claim1, further comprising a transport device, which is configured to removethe products placed on the weighing device or the counting device uponreaching a predefinable requirement and supplies the products to thecompressing unit.
 8. The device according to claim 7, wherein theproducts provided for packing are compressed before being sent to thepacking unit.
 9. The device according to claim 8, wherein the transportdevice is configured to place the products coming from the compressingunit and supply the products to the packing unit.
 10. The deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein the packing unit is configured to acquirea box, automatically open a box to allow the counted and compressedproducts into the box, and automatically close the box upon completionof the packing of the products.
 11. The device according to claim 10,wherein the packing unit is configured to operate pneumatically,mechanically, or combinations thereof.